For many years pro DSLR video shooters scratched their heads over why Nikon basically ceded the high end video sell to Canon, but it looks like those days are coming to a close with the introduction with the Nikon D4.

Inside a rare pre-CES announcement, Nikon released the specs from the D4 early. When compared to the D3, the D4 is a lot more of your incremental improvement than a generational leap in technology. The camera is created around a 16-megapixel full frame sensor backed from the Expeed 3 image processor. A combination lets the D4 clip off shots at 10 fps with AF and AE or 11 fps with exposure and concentrate locked.

The D4 also boasts improved ISO specs, with all the extended upper end with a rating of an eye-popping ISO 204,800, which will be nearly good enough to take pictures at nighttime.

Another improvement inside the D4 is a 91,000 RGB sensor which analyzes the scene for white balance, flash metering and face detection, which now works from the viewfinder, not only around the LCD screen.

The largest improvements are targeted at video and Nikon shooters no more have to feel like second class video citizens. The D4 shoots full 1080 HD at 30/25/24p and 720 at 60p and has meters for audio inside and out.

The D4 includes a low pass filter which is designed to address aliasing and moire, a frequent problem for DSLR video shooters. It’s unfamiliar how Nikon addresses the moire issue without degrading the caliber of still images, a question that may need to delay until the development models hit the streets.

Nikon hasn't ignored still shooters and improved the ergonomics for shooting in portrait orientation. They added yet another rubberized grip and performance button next to the vertical shutter release.

The D4 includes a new high capacity battery that Nikon says are certain to get as much as 2,600 images on one charge. No more worries with regards to a battery dying in the center of a shoot.

The D4 also features a new carbon fiber shutter that’s rated to have an astonishing 400,000 cycles, more than double most top end cameras and 4x the average DSLR. Apparently Nikon believes the people who choose the D4 is going to be shooting lots of pictures, that is good because you’re going to have to sell many of them to cover the $6,000 cost.

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